Furniture-caster.



` No. 708,895.v Patented Sept. 9, |902.

`w. .1. MARTIN.

` FURNITURE CASTER.

(Application led Nov. 27, 1901.)

(No Model.)

UNITED STATES PATENT rrrcn.

WILLIAM J. MARTIN, OF CATAWISSA, PENNSYLVANIA.

FURNITURE-@Aerea SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 708,895, dated September 9, 1902. Application had November 27,1901. semi No. 83,881. Nomades To a/ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM J. MARTIN, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Catawissa, in the county of Columbia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Furniture-Casters, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to theaccom panying drawing, in which is represented a vertical section of the improved easter applied to a furniture-leg.

The object of this invention is to improve and render more durable and efcient'that class of furniture-casters in which a floorroller is journaled in a frame rotatably mounted on antifriction-balls having bearings in a stationary part carried by the arti- `cle of furniture to which the device is Vap plied, as more fully hereinafter set forth.

Referring to the drawing by letters, a designates the floor-roller, which is journaled in suitable hangers depending from a disk b, and rising from the center of this disk is a vertical stem or shank c. In the upper side of the disk b, near its edge, is formed the lower half of a ballrace, in which a series of antifriction-balls d is confined. A similar half of a ball-race is formed in the upperside of a sta-` tionary disk e, whose outer edgef overhangs the edge of disk b and forms a sort of dust trap or guard. Formed lintegral with the plate e is a central upwardly-extending tube g, which is slightly tapered and is fitted closely in anA upwardly-tapering socket-tube 71 secured in a hole in the end of the tableleg. The tube h at its lower end is provided with a (lange t', which when the tube is driven into the furniture-leg bears against the under side of the leg, and against this flange rests the upper side of the stationary part e. The shank c extends up through disk e and tubeg without touching the same, the shank being held centrally in the tube by means of a seriesof antifrictiomballs j, interposed between the upper end of the shank and the upper end of the tube, these balls being removably. conined in their raceway by means of a disk la, secured removably on the upper end of the shank by means of a central screw Z. The Vball race for the balls j is formed partly in the side of the shank and partly in the interior wall of the tube g, so that all tendency to oscillation or vibration of the shank will be taken up by these balls, while the lower series of balls takes up all the Weight of the article of furniture. The disk Zcts down in the raceway far enough to come Hush with the upper end of the tube g, and it will be observed that this disk serves merely to confine the balls, the lateral thrust being taken up entirely by the shank and the surrounding tube. It is essential that the ballsj have a lateral bearing against the inner wall of t'ne tube and in the side of the shank, whereby they will be suspended between the shank and the tube and be in a proper position to take up the lateral thrust of the shank and prevent the same coming in contact with the tube except through the medium of said balls.

As will be observed, an important result of my improved construction is that the floorroller Will have the utmost freedom of Inovement, while at the same time all tilting or oscillation will be done away with, thereby contributing greatly to durability and ease of movement of the article of furniture. It Will "be observed, further, that the construction of the caster is extremely simple, consisting of but two main parts, and that it is readily attached to and detached from the article of furniture, as the supporting tube and plate may be readily slipped into and out of the socket. The socket-tube is made tapering in order to obtain a tight fit., and thereby avoid the necessity of screw-threads and other devices t'or fastening the caster in its socket.

It will be observed that I may employ a 'shorter shank and supporting-tube and make various other changes necessary to adapt this caster to the great variety of articles of furniture capable of being mounted on casters without in the least departing from this invention.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire to obtain by Letters Patent, isp l. In combination, a supporting plate and tube adapted to be attached to Va furnitureleg, the tube rising from the plate and being adapted to extend up into the leg, a rotatable part carrying` a floor-roller and consisting of a disk and a shank rising centrally from the disk and extending up into the supportingtube, a main series of an tifrietion-balls adapted to re(,eivet`r|e weight and confined between and bearingV upon the lower surface of the supportingr-plate and the upper surface of the rotatable (lisk, and a lsupplemental series of balls confined between the shank and the' supporting-tube at the upper ends ofthe same and having a bearing on the inner wall of the tube and the adjacent side of the shank, the balls bein;Y thereby suspended loetween the shank and thetube and so situated as to receive the lateral thrusts of the shank, for the purposes set forth.

2. In Combination, a supporting-tube and disk, adapted for Connection to an article of furniture, a roller-marryin,gr part eonsistingot' VILLIAM J. MARTIN.

Witnesses:

J. H. YASTINE, H. A. HARMAN. 

